Freedom in Contradiction

So, as I posted recently, I got a tip about the Divine Office website, DivineOffice.org, that I can use as a daily meditation, if I could just be so sacrilegious about it, a daily tool to use, to connect with God and to connect with reality.

And, you know, these types of things, kind of, you know, especially given that this is just Scripture, there’s no commentary, it’s all just Scripture.

And it goes back before even the, the tradition here, this is a post-Vatican II accessible Divine Office, but it goes back supposedly before the church, it reaches back into the Jewish tradition and emerges with the church.

But, you know, I do the morning Divine Office and, you know, it really spoke to me in a way that told me that, you know, this is the path, this is a deep well that you can draw from and that you don’t have to use your critical thinking skills all the time in the way that you would have to if you were reading something written by one human, one modern human.

But, you know, I read, I poked around a little bit on some of the other tabs, you know, the mid-morning prayer, the midday prayer, even the evening prayer.

And, you know, I have to say that, you know, it’s this weird dynamic with God, right?

So it’s like, you know, I’m looking on the midday prayer and it says, they are happy whose life is blameless, who follow God’s law.

They are happy who do His will, seeking Him with all their hearts, who never do anything evil, but walk in His ways.

And that’s Psalm 119.

And that’s complete utter bullshit.

Our merciful God in the OLD Testament

Contra the simplistic lie that Old Testament God = mean and New Testament God = nice are today’s scripture readings. The problem with many forms of protestant interpretation (Not Luther’s btw.), is the claim that the Bible is to be interpreted literally and/or uniformly, admitting no contradictions. You don’t need to be a scholar or abandon your faith to recognize that it took God’s people a long time to refine their understanding of God–culminating with the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection. And the Bible reflects this evolution. Our Roman Catholic (and Eastern Orthodox) brethren sometimes claim that the only answer to this conundrum is to join their team. Virtues of their teams notwithstanding, that is not true. Rowan Williams in “The Wound of Knowledge” in the chapter on Luther articulates this better than anything that I have seen. 

Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Lectionary: 184

Reading 1
Is 41:13-20
I am the LORD, your God,
who grasp your right hand;
It is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I will help you.”
Fear not, O worm Jacob,
O maggot Israel;
I will help you, says the LORD;
your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
I will make of you a threshing sledge,
sharp, new, and double-edged,
To thresh the mountains and crush them,
to make the hills like chaff.
When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off
and the storm shall scatter them.
But you shall rejoice in the LORD,
and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain,
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, the LORD, will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open up rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the broad valleys;
I will turn the desert into a marshland,
and the dry ground into springs of water.
I will plant in the desert the cedar,
acacia, myrtle, and olive;
I will set in the wasteland the cypress,
together with the plane tree and the pine,
That all may see and know,
observe and understand,
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 145:1 and 9, 10-11, 12-13ab
R. (8) The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
Let them make known to men your might
and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.
Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
R. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
Alleluia
See Is 45:8
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Let the clouds rain down the Just One,
and the earth bring forth a Savior.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Mt 11:11-15
Jesus said to the crowds:
“Amen, I say to you,
among those born of women
there has been none greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
From the days of John the Baptist until now,
the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence,
and the violent are taking it by force.
All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John.
And if you are willing to accept it,
he is Elijah, the one who is to come.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”